Dropping names ...

Angela Sauaia, a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), has published a new book “The Quest for Health Equity."  In the book, Sauaia lays out a roadmap to address health disparities. Sauaia said she wrote the book to gather information together in one place with solutions based on scientific evidence and critical thinking. “This book was a way to bear witness to this problem and to propose solutions that are within reach.” The book is one of the recommended textbooks for her CU Anschutz health equity class in Health Systems, Management and Policy. Sauaia has relinquished any authors’ rights and will direct all book proceeds to Partners in Health, the organization founded by Dr. Paul Farmer and colleagues that delivers health care to people all over the world. … Dan Theodorescu, director of the CU Cancer Center, recently joined the 21st Century Cures Roundtable in Washington, D.C. He discussed biomedical research happening at the Anschutz Medical Campus. He was joined on the panel by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell; Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health; and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. … Marian Rewers has been named director of the Barbara Davis Center. He has been serving as interim director for the past year while continuing to serve as the center’s clinical director. Rewer’s research includes large National Institutes of Health-funded cohort studies, including The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY), a multi-center consortium that is the most comprehensive effort ever funded to identify environmental triggers of Type 1 diabetes. … Allison Kempe, professor of pediatrics, who has led the Children’s Outcomes Research program, will head ACCORDS – the Adult and Child Center for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science – a newly formed umbrella over the School of Medicine’s outcomes research programs. Edward Havranek, professor of medicine (cardiology), will lead the Colorado Health Outcomes program while continuing to practice at Denver Health Medical Center. … Amy Gannon has been named director of the Office of Grants and Contracts at the School of Medicine effective Oct. 20. She currently serves as director of procurement systems and payable services of the UC System. She has worked for the university since 1995.

Several new faculty members joined UCCS for the fall semester, including 11 assistant professors from the colleges of Business, Letters, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and School of Public Affairs as well as the Kraemer Family Library. They are:

• Jian James Ma, assistant professor, Department of Information Systems, College of Business -- Ma previously was an assistant professor at Colorado State University, Pueblo, and an instructor at Menlo College, the University of Arizona and Texas Tech University in addition to information technology-related positions in industry.
• James Pearson, assistant professor, Department of Biology, College of Letters, Arts and Science -- Pearson previously was a post-doctoral research officer at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, U.K., and also conducted post-doctoral research at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas.
• Darshika Perera, assistant professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences -- Perera recently completed a Ph.D. from the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She previously completed a master’s degree at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
• Stephanie Ryon, assistant professor, Department of Criminal Justice, School of Public Affairs -- Ryon previously was a research assistant professor at Southern Methodist University, an adjunct professor at Florida State University and a research analyst.
• Stephanie Spratt, assistant professor, Department of Technical Services, Kraemer Family Library -- Spratt previously was an acquisitions specialist at Kansas State University and held library positions at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.
• Dustin Stewart, assistant professor, Department of English, College of Letters, Arts and Science -- Stewart previously was an assistant instructor at the University of Texas, Austin, and a visiting instructor at Agnes Scott College, Atlanta.
• Joel Tonyan, assistant professor, Department of Web Services, Kraemer Family Library -- Tonyan previously was a systems librarian and multimedia specialist for NorthWest Arkansas Community College, worked in industry and was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Arkansas.
• James Van Scotter, assistant professor, Department of Marketing, College of Business --  Van Scotter previously taught business courses at the University of Florida in addition to working in industry and service in the U.S. Air Force.
• Jonathan Ventura, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences --  Ventura recently completed a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He previously completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UCSB.
• Emilie Vrbancic, assistant professor, Department of Instruction Services, Kraemer Family Library -- Vrbancic previously was a graduate assistant, tutor and multicultural services assistant at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and a research assistant and library assistant at Lake Forest College.
• Robert Wonnett, assistant professor, Department of Public Administration, School of Public Affairs -- Wonnett previously was an assistant clinical professor in the School of Public Affairs and program adviser in the Student Affairs in Higher Education Program of the UCCS College of Education. His UCCS career dates to 1981 and includes leadership of the Department of Public Safety, Office of the Dean of Students and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success.